We were lucky to catch up with Alaine Jacobs recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alaine, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, let’s start with a hypothetical – what would you change about the educational system?

The United States educational system is at a pivotal point where we need to seriously evaluate what future we are preparing our students for, and what skills our students will need to live in the current world. So much has changed since I was in school, and most of that is due to technology. To be frank, when I was in school we barely even had text messaging! With the rapid advancement in technology, students need to be learning things like entrepreneurship and how to problem solve and think outside of the box. We are now living in a world where job flexibility is a reality and people no longer have to go to a 9-5 job to have a viable career. It would be beneficial for students to learn skills that they can transfer to any job or employment opportunity, since many young people these days “job hop” and no longer stay with a company until retirement.

Additionally the educational system needs to reevaluate how they teach students with special needs. As a former high school teacher and a mother of two deaf/ hard of hearing kids, I am very familiar with the IEP process and special education in public schools. Unfortunately, special education teachers are not accurately trained in their teacher education to know how to serve many populations of students. I have personally found that most schools know very little about how to help serve kids who are deaf/ hard of hearing. The universities are using outdated curriculum to teach their special education teachers, and so the system needs to fix the teacher training. Currently the onus is put on the parents to make sure their child’s education is fair and appropriate, and in reality we need more teachers who are trained in current research-based practices to partner with the parents and help educate their kids in a way that is appropriate for their needs.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a mother of three kids, and two of my kids are deaf/ hard or hearing and wear cochlear implants. We have no hearing loss in our family, and so when my kids were born deaf it was a shock to our family. Over time we adjusted and learned how to care for our kids, advocate for them in school, and we started making friends with other parents of kids with hearing loss in our area.

It was through these interactions that I started to informally counsel other parents who were newer to the hearing loss process than I was. I realized that seven years into our journey with our kids, I was at a place where I could give back and counsel other parents who were just a few years behind us.

I became involved as a leader of our local parent support group and learned that I just love supporting other parents and helping them to find the best resources for their kids!

I realized that I could help other parents too, even if they aren’t in my local community. And so I created the Raising Deaf Kids podcast!

I’m really proud of it because it is the first of it’s kind in the podcasting world. It’s a real- life look at the journey of hearing loss with your kids from a real parent who has been there, and is still there with you. Up until this point most of the podcasts in the hearing loss world were from professionals who were speaking to other professionals. There was a real lack of a parent voice for other parents to relate to.

I often create episodes where it’s just me talking to my audience, and I also have some incredible guests on the show that are so generous and give so much encouragement and information to parents! It really is a one-stop shop for everything hearing loss in kids- what it’s really like to get the diagnosis for the first time, deciding on your family’s communication preferences, navigating the IEP process in school, and regular “motherhood” topics as well.

What sets Raising Deaf Kids apart from anything else in the hearing loss space is that I really support the choices of every parent. I truly believe that the best choice for your family is whatever you choose! I educate parents on all of their options and I encourage parents to go with what works for their family.

I also understand the busy life of parents, because I’m one of those parents too! Everything that I recommend or talk about fits into the daily routine of a parent and doesn’t add any extra stress or overwhelm to their already busy life. I encourage parents to “let it be easy” and to do things in the most simple yet effective way.

Because of my education background as a former Spanish teacher, I tend to focus on language, communication and navigating the educational system with deaf kids. I believed that the IEP process can be very simple and streamlined. I coach parents on how to effectively build relationships with your IEP team and how to become a leader at the IEP table.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

The ultimate goal that drives the base of Raising Deaf Kids is the parents and kids that I get to serve on a daily basis. Someone once told me that “one person is a whole world”, and I believe that to change the world we only have to help one person at a time. If I help just one parent find better resources for their kids, or help them navigate the IEP to get better school services, then I’ve fulflled my mission

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

In order to be able to move forward with my own business, I had to unlearn the fact that you have to follow a certain path to a career in life.

When I graduated from university, working online wasn’t as much of an option. Everyone expected that we would all go get a job somewhere, and then keep working the 9-5 outside of the home.

However, from the beginning I was always seeking something different.

I decided to be a teacher because I like teaching, and also you get to end your work day at 3pm and you get a whole summer vacation, which no other job offers.

I was always looking for more flexibility and more balance to enjoy life and not wait until I retired.

Then I had kids and became a stay at home mom. What I loved, besides providing a foundation at home for my family, was that my time and schedule were my own. I could go to bed without having to worry about waking up and being at a job at a certain time. I could go get coffee or lunch with a friend any time that I wanted. I really valued the fact that my time was completely my own.

As my kids got a little older an started going to school, many people asked me if I would go back to teaching. Although I enjoyed teaching, I didn’t want to get back into working on someone else’s time schedule. I thought about what if I could make a different choice than what the rest of the world expected of me?

So I did. I started my own business. It still takes work, but the work lights me up and allows me to be the master of my own time.

Contact Info:

• Website: regularmomblog.com
• Instagram: alainejacobs
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/raisingdeafkids
• Youtube: alainejacobs
• Other: Raising Deaf Kids Podcast on Spotify, Apple and Amazon Music https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/raising-deaf-kids/id1706831550